Machinery for decorticating the leaves of fibrous plants



Nov. 16,1926. V 1,606,962

G. SEYMOUR v MACHINERY FOR DECORTICATING THE LEAVES OF FIBROUS PLANTS Filed June}, 1926- 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov, 16 1926.

' G. SEYMOUR MACHINERY FOR DECDRTICATING THE! LEAVES OF FIBROUS PLANTS Filed-June 2. 1926 3. Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 16 1926. 1,606,962

G. SEYMOUR MACHINERY FOR DECORTICATING THE LEAVES OF FIBROUS' PLANTS Filed June 2; 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 35 AWE/WW5 550 965 SEYMOMQ HGE'ORGE sEYMo n, or HARRoW, ENGL LTD. a

- MACHINERY roe DEooR'ri'oArme THE LEAVEQ or mews rLAiifrg 7 Application [filed June 2 1926, Serial no; 113,234; and in Great Bream January 19, 1925;

" This invention relates to machinery for decorticating or extracting the fibres from the leaves of manila, sisal, coir, Indian hemp,

ramie and so forth. The present invention is specially applicable to the elongated spiky sisal leaves (Agave sz'salana) to remove the ineaty' or'pulpy green bulk and so obtain the small percentage offibrous material.

Machines of this type usually include a drum or drums, of castiron provided on their peripheries respectively witha p1ura1'-' ity' of circumferentiall'y spaced dec'orticator knives of angular section Said drum r0- tates over a concave or bedtof phosphorbronz'e, and the leaves are'fed between the drum and bed whereby all the extraneous body is stripped from the fibrous skeleton.

The presentinv'ention has for'its object Soto modify and rearrange the parts of-the decorticator that-the improved machine not only results in increased efficiency, but is applicable for use in a compact and coinpara tively light manner on a power-driven vehicle. The engine of the latter when stati-onarydrives the decorticator mounted on' its chassis. i 7 I An easily transportable machine of this nature possesses the main advantage that Work can be carried out in the plantations themselves, saving the transport of leaves from various outlying points to a central decort-icating station, and thesaving of labour is'appreciable. 7 Further, the plantations are not so quickly denuded andw'or'kedout, because the discarded green body substance can be returned to the land as a fertilizer. Further, the problem of accumulating heaps of unhealthy rotting vegetation does not arise. t v

Concerning theincreased eficiency, although it is quite old and wellkn own to employ a pairof side-by-side drums on the same shaft; yet no continuous feed from one drum to the other (as is proposed in connection with this invention) took place, the drums being for all-practical purposes two separate decorticators in" so far as one half of the "leaf was treated on one, then reversed and transferred for finishing to the other. In addition to working continuoaslm without removal from the conveyor; andcompleting decortication of the entire leaf, -n1y improvement permits the use of other portions of the drums peripheries simultaneouslyi That is to say,'whereas With most existing, apparatus only about one quadrant of each d-rum coac t's Wi-th bedior useful Work; in the presentease a pair of diametrically opposite quadrants or ci'r-' 1 oum ierentiai areas are employed, those of one drum being cirou'mifer'entially oifset from those of the other drum as will be more clearly seen later 1 1 Various embodiment of the invention develops.

An embodiment oft-he invention ilejillus' trated by the accompanying sheets of draw-- ings, wherein Figural IS a being omitted io'r elearn'ess. I

Figure 2 shows, to a larger scale; the top halves of the drums, and leaf conveyingide vices. i 1 j Figure 3 is an end View of What will be termedNoi 1 drum (i. e.- the right hand one in Figures; 1 and 2) and its associated fit tings.

- Fi ure 4 is a section on IV-4V of Fig Fi ure 5 is Figure 6f ure 3r I V Figure 7' is aside view and part or its sup or'ting frames looking a section on of FignreB.

7 from direction of arrow VII of Figure 3.

axial relation with their axis disposed 1on it'udina'lly of the vehicle.- These drums '3 v I 100 are arranged to be rotated bylthe velnelfes en ine 4 'Wh-ichis geared to drive onto the diagrammatic view show-t 1 ing the general disposition of the drums and bed-plateson a vehicle chassis, details is a sectionon v'll vlof Figf the team other detail improvements'will apparent as the following description of an front Wheels 5 for transport; or from the shat-t 6 on to a'shaft (not shown) lying between the chassis frames w'v'hgieh; be clutchedin to the drains" shaft 7 (Figure 8) as and when reqo'ired." B tween dram No." 1 drum: No; 2, reversing gear is" inter posed so that the drums rotate in-opposite directions. Thedrums carry knive 8 (Eig--. tires 3 and 8) extending aoroesttheir periph- 'er'ies and'saitabiy spaced apart; and rotate inside suitable bed-plates or eoncavesfi These bed-plates may be quadrant-shaped phosphor-bronzes or may be of the improved bed 9 at the bottom right quadrant, and one bed 10 at the top left, whilstthe back drum No. 2, (Figuresl and 8) has two, one bed 11 at top right, and one 'bedv12 at bottom left. The bed-plates ofone drum are consequently circumferentia-lly offset in relationv to those of the other drum. 1 If all the beds 91O and 1112 were ofequal length, the

arrangement and disposition would appear identical'from bothsides, but in. the form illustrated, the beds 910 of No. 1 drum are much shorter-thanthe'beds 1112. 1 prefer to work from the rear of the vehicle (thus regarding this as the front of the decorticator) and to treat the leaves in unequal sections,xasis explained later.

A conveyor of any suitable description (chain, ropes or the like) extends from drum to drum parallel to their axes. This might be any height depending on the disposition of the beds. I prefer to construct the conveyor two-part, as clearly shown by Figures 2. By this arrangement, the portion of leaf gripped whilst passing across drum No. 1 is released for treatment whilst crossing drum No. 2. To explain fully the conveyor arrangement illustrated :An endless conveyor belt 18 passes over a pulley 1 1 mounted on the rear of the chassis and then around any suitable arrangement of guide pulleys mounted conveniently on the chassis and over the pulleys 15 and 16, one each side of drum No. 1. ed on a bracket 17 carried between a pair of substantially semi-circular frames 1818. These frames 1818 are duplicated around the bottom of the drums and are mounted on the chassis girders 1, and also constitute the V framework for supporting the bedplates.- i

The conveyor 18 is disposed across the top of the bed-plate 10 of drum No. 1-. Another endless band 19 is furnished for drum No.

, 2, and is slightly lower running across the No. 2. Referring to Figures8 and 5, it .will 7 be seen that a presser frame 26 with a plurality, of rollers 27 is pressed on to belt 24 by the springs 28 housed in the cylindrical housings 29 formed with the frames 18. The

The latter pulleys are mount-' belt 18 runs overa second set of rollers 30 mounted at the top of the .frame81. A similar arrangement (to which corresponding reference numerals have been applied) is provided for drum No. 2see Figure 8.

if the leaves are gripped transversely, after having been fed on to the band 18 between the pulley 14: and drum No. 1, the depending portion e. g. the thick meaty stub at the base, will be treated by the front drum as it passes across the decorticating periphery between drum 8 and bed-plate 10, and the upstanding portion will wrap itself under the frame'on the guard plate 82. The bed-plate 10 is formed withan outwardly splayed spade end 88 to facilitate a preliminary crushing at this thick part. After treatment by drum No. 1, the leaf passes on to; conveyor 19, being. gripped ata part lower down, alreadydecorticated', and the upstanding top portion will then be treated by the bed-plate 12 of drum No. 2. *T0 attain this end, a reversing gear'is interposed between the drums so that they are oppositely rotating. 7 The whole arrangement is du-' plicated underneath the drums so that another leaf can be fed to bed-plate 9 and thence to bed-plate 12 simultaneously with the work over the top bed-plates.

1t will be seen from Figures 6, 7 and 9. that the bed-plates 10 and llare arranged helically across the drum peripheries, being supported on side wings 84, 8 1 and 85,85 respectively, which are capable of slidable adjustment in their respective framework members 18, 18 and 28, 28. The pairs of frames 18, 18'and 28,28 are joined together by suitable ties, studs 86 being employed for the ,No. 1 drumf frames (Figures 8 and 4t) and tie-plates 8'? for the N0. 2 drum frames (Figures'8 and 9.) V

- I claim 1. A machine for decorticating the leaves of fibrous plants comprising a portable wheeled chassis, a source of power thereon, a pair of co-aXial reversely rotatable drums mounted on said chassis, a plurality of knives on said drums, fixed bed-plates positioned partially around said drums arranged so that the bedplates for one drum are circumferentially offset to those for the other drum, and a conveyor for feeding leaves from onedrum to the other. p l

2. A machine for decorticating the leaves of fibrous plants comprising a portable wheeled chassis, a source, of power thereon, a pair of co-aXiallyarranged reversely r0 tatable knife carrying drums mounted on said chassis and operable by said source of power, cooperating bed-plates, positioned partly around said drums, and the bed-plates of one drum being circumferentially offset from thoseof the other drum, and a conveyor extending substantially parallel to the axis of said drums and at the sides thereof, said conveyor being adapted to grip the leaves intermediate their length and to pass the adjacent ends of the leaves between one drum and its bed-plates, and finally to pass the opposite ends of the leaves between the second drum and its bed-plates.

3. A machine for decorticating the leaves of fibrous plants comprising a portable wheeled chassis, a source of power thereon a pair of co-axially arranged reversely roj tatable knife carrying drums mounted on said chassis and operable bysaid source of jacent ends of the leaves between vone drum and its bed-plates, and finally passing the opposite. ends of the leaves between the sec- ,ond drum and its bed-plates.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature hereto this 19th day of April,

GEORGE SEYMOUR. 

